VANCOUVER, BRITISH COLUMBIA--(Marketwired - Sept. 6, 2013) - American Bonanza Gold Corp. (News - Market indicators) (OTCQX:ABGFF) ("Bonanza" or "Company") is pleased to announce progress at the 100% owned Copperstone gold mine in Arizona during July 2013.

The mine made good progress in accessing new ore zones during July, and seven areas of the mine were advanced as potential ore headings in order to increase ore and grade to the mill. As a result, production footage was 44% higher than June with 10,443 tons of ore mined.

Production Summary (see below for detailed breakdown of figures)

• 1,083 ounces of gold were produced during July, comprised of 335 ounces of gold contained in flotation concentrate and 748 ounces of gold in gravity concentrate.

• During July, ore was mined from three mining faces. Two of the faces were in the larger D-Zone and the third in the C-Zone.
• Total ore production was 10,443 tons which was 1,081 tons more than June. 
• The mine performed at an average of 5 rounds of mining progress per day achieving 607 feet of mined ore; that's a 44% increase on the previous month.
• There was a decrease in the grade from 0.1619 to 0.1409 largely due to anomalies in the ore composition from one of the current zones. 

• The geology and mining teams are working closely together to successfully implement geological control processes in order to improve head grade at the mill as more zones are accessed. As a result, seven areas of the mine were advanced as potential future ore headings during July.
• Geology is also focused on implementing better heading control into the ore body to improve the detailed targeting of the ore bodies. Significant work is being completed on the spatial relationship of the ore body to the mine workings which was a challenge during July.
• Work continued on developing a detailed infill drill program to assist engineering in detailed ore body location.
• The access ramp to the 690 ore zone, located in D Zone, is now complete, and a preliminary conceptual mining plan has been established. 
• The main ramp joining 730 and 810 mining areas was 24ft. from breakthrough at the end of July with breakthrough projected in early August. This will facilitate access development to the C800 area, the C810 stopes below 810, and several mining areas between the 730 and 810 levels. 

• There was a decrease in development mining of 16% during the month.
• Development mining is expected to increase with the expected addition of new machinery and spare parts as a result of the current financing (due to close before September 16^th 2013).

• Milled tons increased by 1,260 tons from June to 10,669 tons in July.
• The mill feed grade in July decreased to 0.1215 ounces of gold per ton due to the reduction in the head grade from one of the zones. 
• As a result, recoveries fell slightly from 84.7% to 83.5%.
• The mill continues to perform well and planned servicing of the Knelson concentrator was completed in 30 hours with the smaller Knelson concentrator providing temporary back-up.

Mine Operations

The mine is currently rolling out a recruitment program designed to attract a combination of more qualified miners and additional local miners requiring training from the surrounding area. As the mine is now an important employer in the Quartzsite/Parker area, it's essential that the workforce evolves from the traditional transitional miner start-up model to a more stable, local workforce.

The mine is also focusing on an in-fill drilling program to better identify the exact detailed location of the ore bodies for engineering purposes. The new drilling program will be instituted as soon as possible.

Mr. Brian Kirwin, President & CEO, commented: "While the engineering and geology teams are making good progress towards the additional ore zones, it is clear that the addition of new capital will further help support efforts to identify higher grade material, as well as provide additional equipment to speed up location and access to additional zones. "

Private Placement

American Bonanza Gold Corp. is currently engaged in raising up to $5M by way of a private placement for funds to support capital expenditures on equipment and an inventory of spare parts as well as a contingency fund of $1.5m to bring the mine to design production rates. For further information regarding the private placement, please contact Jim Bagwell at jbagwell@americanbonanza.com.

Mine and mill performance for the month of August will be announced towards the end of September.

Doug Wood, P. Geo the Vice President of Exploration of the Company, is the "qualified person" as defined in NI 43-101 who has reviewed and approved the technical information in this news release.

About American Bonanza Gold Corp: Bonanza is operating the newly constructed Copperstone gold mine in Arizona. For more information please visit Bonanza's website at www.americanbonanza.com.

AMERICAN BONANZA GOLD CORP. Brian Kirwin, President & Chief Executive Officer

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